Azaz

A'zaz is a city in northern Aleppo Governorate in northwestern Syria, just 20 miles northwest of Aleppo. In 2004, Azaz had a population of 31,623 people, with 99.96% of the population being Sunni Muslim Arabs or Kurds and .04% (ten people) being Yazidis. Azaz has been a battleground for centuries, being the site of Emperor Romanus III of Byzantium's August 1030 defeat to the Mirdasids, the 11 June 1125 decisive crusader victory of Baldwin II of Jerusalem over the Seljuks, and heavy fighting during the Syrian Civil War in the 2010s. By 2015, al-Nusra Front and the Free Syrian Army jointly ruled Azaz, but on 17 January 2016 the Syrian Democratic Forces took the Azaz border checkpoint. On 29 March 2016, the Mountain Hawks Brigade filmed an attack against a Kurdish YPG T-72 tank during the Syrian Opposition-Rojava clashes of the war.